Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-02-25
OlHPIA. FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. q. 1857


t.'Ii ItuVSSs
Were it not for the fact that the de-
ciSion of the Supreme Court, relating
to defective legislation, is engrossing
paramount importance, the STANDARD
would decline to give up SO much OF
its space to what may appear to some
of its readers, an Improbable cOntrO-
versy on the suffrage question, the
most important matter affected by it.
a little reflection will convince any
impartial observer, however, that fu-
turc effort for restoration of the ballot
VIII be prosecuted vigorously and must
necessarily proceed from woman her
self. She was on trial while vested with
equal political rights, and she will be
h Id to a no less accountability now,
when an exigency has risen that should
Call forth those very qualities OF moder-
alton, tact and diplomacy, that qualify
the citizen to deal with governmental
problems. She must support her
claim to the ballot by the soundest of
reasons, for now, that she is shOrn of
he strength as political factor. those
fawning sychyphants, who, opposed
the ballot but were the first to applaud
afer the boon was conferred and have
since posed as wOman's champions till
the late turn of the wheel by the SUI
preme Court, will be found arrayed
against her. Her real friends, maLy
of them, will again come to the front,
but the main fight will have to be
made by woman herself. If she is in
clined to doubt the power of the bal
lot, she has not only the ready acquies-
cence of its most determined Opposers
soon as it was conferred, to demon
strate it's utility, but an immediate re-
vival of the old spirit of hostility by
these same time-serving demagogues,
soon as they find that the scepter has
fallen from her hands. Those who
dared not speak above whisper in OPP
position to woman suffrage few weeks
ago, are now blatant in denunciatiOn.
Many who were elected to Office on a
platform specially pledged to main
tain woman's privileges under the law,
now boldly proclaim their hostility to
that policy. The press, which with
but few exceptions, had recognized the
change at the polls and in the court
room as an innovation on custom that
had happily been crowned with success,
are now luke-warm in the expression of
opinion, or openly rejoice that " a dis
turbing element has been removed
from politics" The tone of popular
sentiment, which seemed to favor the
fullest equality of woman under the
law, now seems guarded, and those
poor week mortals who have been in
the habit of shouting Yea, yea," or
"Nay, nay" are effectually silenced.
1t is for these reasons that the STAND
ARD has, and will continue to yield,
much of its space to the arguments
of women in their own defence. Mr..
Ayers letter, in our issue of the 18th
instant, has afforded them texts from
which to preach true sermons of re-
form. He has unwittingly offered
himself as the paschal lamb whose
blood shall flow that the day of tribu-
lation may pass from people in bond
age.
A great argument of the opposers of
woman suffrage is, that some women,
themselves, are its most determined
opposers. This is, in part, true
but it will be found, on investi-
CATION, that it is a class who have had
very little necessity for making the
discovery, liable to be made at any
time, that the world is cold and UNI
charitable; that the controlling ele-
ment of society is but sham sup
ported by a superstructure of pretense ;
that its sincerity, when put to the test
by unfavoring circumstances, is about
as palpable to the touch as the famed
apples of Sodom. Those who have
had to labor for livelihood, those who
have families dependent upon their
own exertions for food and clothing,
those who have been brought face to
face with the opposing hosts in the
battle of life, those who have made a
study of the elementary principles of
free government as duty as we'll as
an aid to individual effort, are a unit
in their demand for equality. Wo-
mans appeal is that she be allowed an
equal opportunity to live life of vir-
tue and independence; it is that the
same avenues for labor, the same
means for obtaining food and raiment,
be accorded to her as are usu-ped by
her brother man.
While the STANDARD cheerfully
places its columns at the disposal of
women fol this object, it urges brevity,
as an absolute essential in all future
communications, as well as an avoid.
ance of anything which may be con-
strued into personalities, which only
detract from the force of argument.
SECRETARY of the Treasury Man.
ming has handed to the President his